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October 20, 2011

Your Opinion: October 20, 2011

Johnson provides leadership

Our current representative, Jim Johnson has a record of results and proven leadership over the past three years. Johnson’s opponent’s list of issues reads like a list of accomplishments Jim has acquired while in office representing us:

Gas drilling: Jim Johnson and his opponent agree – if the process endangers our water supply, security, economy and/or way of life, then it should not be permitted.

While on other points Johnson’s opponent talks about issues, Johnson’s proven leadership has delivered results.

Johnson’s opponent says he supports Home Rule legislation – as our county rep, Jim Johnson has worked and consulted with Sen. Jim Seward to see that very legislation brought to the Senate floor in Albany.

Johnson’s opponent says he wants to prevent tax increases – no one has fought harder for spending reductions, to avoid tax increases, than our county rep Jim Johnson. He is a tireless advocate for taxpayers and working families.

Johnson’s opponent says he wants more bed tax money for Cooperstown – our county rep, Jim Johnson secured, for the first time ever, more than $250,000 in bed tax funding for Cooperstown over the past four years. Johnson is fighting for another $100,000 in the budget for 2012.

Johnson’s opponent says he supports leaving MOSA – as our county rep, Jim Johnson was a leader in the effort to depart MOSA three years early and return the solid waste system to one that actually discourages waste and encourages recycling and conservation – something that previous boards said was impossible.

Johnson’s opponent says he supports local businesses and employment – as a small-business person and an employer himself, Johnson worked closely with the economic development office to refocus the county’s effort to attract, support and maintain businesses. Johnson recognizes that high taxes and red tape are significant reasons that businesses fail and he has worked hard to eliminate both.

We can take comfort and pride in knowing that our current representative, Jim Johnson, is not only providing leadership on issues, but also getting results.

We need to re-elect Jim Johnson – Otsego County Representative – District 8.

Joe Booan

Cooperstown

BOOAN is mayor of Cooperstown.

Fracking is election’s focus

Sustainable Otsego became politically active after repeated attempts to council elected officials about the devastating effects fracking has on individuals, businesses and our community fell on deaf ears. That danger is the election’s focus and reason I am running for county representative.

We want to replace those who turned a blind eye to protecting us.

Sure, we should be current on local issues. We all want to assure we don’t elect uninformed one-cause boosters. Find my positions at http://sustainableotsego.org/johnkosmer. Candidates who suddenly become “me too” anti-frackers to win elections and claims of working behind the scenes don’t fool us.

Have you seen my opponent anywhere I have been defending our community?

He only attended one town of Otsego board meeting where he remained silent after being  personally invited by supervisorMeg Kiernan. I participated in lobbying meetings with State Senator Jim Seward, Majority Leader Dean Skelos’ office, Governor Cuomo’s office and other New York representatives.

I attended area town meetings, the Susquehanna River Basin Commission meeting and The Mohawk Regional Economic Development Council workshop.

The point is that caring for your community is not an election season campaign exercise. It’s a 24/7 privilege they’ve been entrusted with that goes well beyond attending one county board meeting and two committee meetings a month.

Fracking and local issues are inexorably tied together. If our water is contaminated, our air polluted, our health compromised, our landscape mutilated, our roads deteriorated, our property values destroyed and our social fabric compromised by a transient worker industry, who will want to come or stay here? To prosper, people and businesses depend on the things that fracking destroys. I choose prosperity over fracking.

John Kosmer

Fly Creek

Vote for Rosenthal

I would like to suggest a vote for Beth Rosenthal for District 7 County Representative.

She has been an extraordinary town clerk in Roseboom and an asset to our community.

She is articulate, responsible, caring and has worked hard to represent us and what our community stands for. Beth has devoted herself to the issue of hydrofracking and will continue the work to prevent it in Otsego County.

New leadership is needed in this district to give our concerns a voice. A vote for Beth is indeed a step in the right direction.

Patricia Duncan

Roseboom

Drilling is a smokescreen

As someone who has worked for the county as a department head for many years, I know it is important that voters understand what issues face the county board every day, and that by electing the wrong people for the wrong reasons has real and serious consequences on the day-to-day issues that we face with our families.

Despite misinformation to the contrary, the fact is the county government cannot regulate or otherwise control gas drilling in Otsego County. That is simply a fact. Therefore, the Sustainable Otsego candidates that are running for the county board very obviously have other objectives in mind. Their own organization admitted that the state and/ or federal governments will decide the fate of gas drilling in New York, so either these candidates have no idea what they’re doing, or they are using drilling as a smokescreen to gain control. These radical, one-issue candidates are not prepared to represent our views and values on the county board.

The real issues that affect our daily lives that the county board faces, are budget and finance, public safety, Otsego Manor, roads and bridges, managing county personnel, social services, assistance for the elderly, early childhood intervention, and much more.

These issues require experience, understanding and a commitment to public service — not a fear-mongering scare campaign.

If we elect radical, one-issue candidates we are truly performing a disservice to ourselves and the entire county. To be sure we need to be concerned about gas  drilling but not at the expense ofevery other issue facing county government.

These candidates understand and are committed to representing you on ALL of the issues facing Otsego County. In district 8 re-elect Jim Johnson; in district 7 elect Ray Holohan; in district 5 elect Pauline Koren.

Sheila Ross

Fly Creek

Ross is the county Republican chair

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